1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a videoscope preheater, and more particularly to an endoscope preheating device, which is easy to be carried and maintained. The heating efficiency of the endoscope preheating device can be easily controlled and the endoscope can be more uniformly preheated with the endoscope preheating device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following the advance of medical technology, various endoscopes have been developed for examination of internal organs and minimally invasive surgery. In use of an endoscope, it is necessary to extend the endoscope into the human body. Before doing this, the endoscope must be first sterilized and preheated. The endoscope is preheated to avoid fogging due to the heat of human body as well as to reduce uncomfortable feeling of a patient in the therapy.
The conventional endoscope heating devices can be generally divided into vapor heating device, double-boiling device and heat preservation/releasing device. The vapor heating device and the double-boiling device can quickly and stably heat the endoscope. However, such devices are composed of numerous components and have considerably large volume and thus are difficult to be carried. Therefore, the application sites of such devices are limited. Moreover, it is not easy to maintain these devices.
A conventional heat preservation/releasing device includes an envelope containing therein a chemical solution capable of preserving/releasing heat, and a trigger unit for triggering heat releasing reaction. For example, the heat preservation/releasing device can include an envelope containing supersaturated sodium acetate aqueous solution therein and a triggering metal plate positioned in the envelope. The metal plate can be bent to emit microwave radiation for disturbing the original balance state of the sodium acetate aqueous solution. In this case, the sodium acetate will precipitate and crystallize to release heat.
However, with respect to the heat preservation/releasing device, it is hard to control the reaction rate of such chemical reaction. Therefore, it is impossible to control the heating efficiency. Moreover, due to the limitation of the configuration of the envelope, the endoscope can be hardly uniformly heated. That is, those parts adjacent to the envelope will be heated up faster, while those parts distal from the envelope will be heated at lower efficiency. Following the precipitation of the sodium acetate crystal, the envelope will be gradually hardened. Under such circumstance, the endoscope may be stuck in the envelope to cause damage of the fine components on the surface of the endoscope.
It is therefore tried by the applicant to provide an endoscope preheating device, which has simple and lightweight structure and is easy to be carried. Moreover, the heating efficiency of the endoscope preheating device can be easily controlled.